I don't want to come off like a James Harden hater based on the past couple months either because I was a huge fan of his game all the way back to Arizona State moreso than a lot of people, no lie. I just get extremely disappointed at a guy when he doesn't show up come Spring....I talked the same shit about LeBron last year and he proved me wrong.

why does the "spring" only count the finals? harden had played pretty well in the playoffs up until that point.

OKC was gambling that Perkins would get healthy by the playoffs so that they could get by LA. It didn't work out for them.

This part, at least, is incorrect. Having Perk to get past the Lakers worked just fine last spring. Additionally, Perk actually played pretty solid post defense in the 2011 playoffs, but they didn't count on Dirk catching fire and eliminating the Lakers(and everyone else, as it turned out). However, Perk's a DH of sorts, only really good for slowing down post-up threats. That was all well and good when the Finals were going through Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Kevin Garnett, and Dwight Howard, but it's also why he had little positive impact against Dirk's Mavs or last year's Heat. Dwight switching conferences is likely the exact reason OKC didn't amnesty him.

This part, at least, is incorrect. Having Perk to get past the Lakers worked just fine last spring. Additionally, Perk actually played pretty solid post defense in the 2011 playoffs, but they didn't count on Dirk catching fire and eliminating the Lakers(and everyone else, as it turned out). However, Perk's a DH of sorts, only really good for slowing down post-up threats. That was all well and good when the Finals were going through Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Kevin Garnett, and Dwight Howard, but it's also why he had little positive impact against Dirk's Mavs or last year's Heat. Dwight switching conferences is likely the exact reason OKC didn't amnesty him.

I'm aware of all this. But the trade didn't work out for OKC when it was made and now they're locked into paying huge money for a guy they only need for a handful of games in any given season. Boston is essentially paying less than half that for two guys to fill that role.

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."

I'm aware of all this. But the trade didn't work out for OKC when it was made and now they're locked into paying huge money for a guy they only need for a handful of games in any given season. Boston is essentially paying less than half that for two guys to fill that role.

No, it worked out fine the last two seasons for what it was. The Thunder weren't getting past the 2011 Mavs regardless of whether they made the trade or not, and likely wouldn't have gotten through the Grizzlies with a Green-Krstic frontcourt. The problems they had that led to them losing in the Finals last year weren't anything that you'd expect Perkins to solve. If Presti badly wanted to get rid of him he had a few avenues to do so, but the handful of games that they actually need Perk going forward are known as "The 2013-2015 Western Conference Finals". Collins and Darko aren't making a difference against the Lakers.

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."

The Thunder weren't getting past the 2011 Mavs regardless of whether they made the trade or not.

But that's the point. They made the trade specifically to get past LA and gave Perkins a contract that cost them Harden. It's been a real loser of a deal for them because, post knee injuries, Perkins isn't of much use against perimeter oriented teams. So they need him for less than 20 games a year. Boston got Darko and a crappy Collins twin for $2-$3 million a year to fill the same role.

Accused of amassing an 18-gun arsenal to protect his drug business, Bjorkstam is said to have defended Swift to police, describing him as a "good guy" who helped him try to collect a heroin debt but did not deal drugs himself.

"People have been ripping me off," Bjorkstam told police, according to charging papers. "Rob and I are trying to put a stop to that."

OKC decided that keeping Perkins, in order to deal with the Lakers' frontcourt, and cashing out on Harden for other perimeter scorers was their best course of action. Now, you can feel like they made the wrong decision, but they're not sitting around lamenting the Perkins trade and the extension they gave him, because they could shed his salary any time they want. As I said, those handful of games they need him in are against their primary conference competition - it's the exact same reason that Boston just gave Jeff Green $40 million and let Ray Allen walk. Saying they need him for less than 20 games a year brushes off the fact that they badly need him in the Conference Finals.

He might make a nice sidekick. Stick him on a team with Dwight Howard and a third guy who's able to take over on offense for stretches as well(like the '08 C's) and you might have a legitimate contender.

Don't overreact to outlier games. Of course he went off against Rodney Stuckey/Kyle Singler and Devin Harris/Kyle Korver. Of course he was less effective against Nic Batum and Andre Iguodala. His median production will likely be around what his per 36 minutes averages are now - 26/5/5 with high turnovers and low 3P%. Those are all-star on a middle-of-the-pack team numbers.